IN RAIN, SLEET AND SNOW, THE WEATHERMAN THRIVES

By JACK CAVANAUGH

Published: February 8, 1987

A PENETRATING, bone-chilling wind was blowing as Mel Goldstein got into his car at 3:45 one recent morning to drive to work over snow-covered roads. Given the hour and the weather, it seemed like a depressing way to start a day.

But Dr. Goldstein views weather in a different perspective than do most people, and to him it was a marvelous way to start the day as he drove the 10 miles from his Ridgefield home to Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, where he is the chief meteorologist at the university's Weather Center.

But despite his fondness for foul weather, even Dr. Goldstein concedes that he and his staff of four meteorologists could use a breather from the onslaught of snowstorms that have hit the state this winter.

''We've been under attack for more than a month now, and it's been like a war zone around here,'' he said of the center. ''At one point in mid-January, I was here for three straight days, sleeping on a couch in the Weather Center. And we've had everything -snow, rain and sleet, but especially snow. Much as I thrive on bad weather, it's been like a smorgasbord, and I think we've all had enough.''

Headed by Dr. Goldstein, the Weather Center at the university provides reports to clients in and out of the state while also serving as a training ground for aspiring meteorologists. Besides manning a round-the-clock, seven-day forecasting service, Dr. Goldstein and his colleagues teach six courses in a meteorology department that had only one instructor and one course when he arrived at the university in 1970.

''I was doing graduate work at New York University at the time, when I saw a position for a meteorological instructor advertised at Western Connecticut,'' said Dr. Goldstein, who is originally from Massachusetts. ''I didn't even know where Danbury was, but once I got here it turned out to be a terrific opportunity, even though all they had was a thermometer and a barometer.''

Now, though, the Weather Center is equipped with an array of sophisticated equipment and receives weather charts, satellite photographs and various computer information from around the country and even from abroad. This material, coupled with the expertise of Dr. Goldstein and his colleagues, is used to provide weather forecasts to 12 Connecticut radio stations, a New Haven television station and five radio stations outside of Connecticut, one as far away as Harrisburg, Pa.

The Weather Center also supplies forecasts to the State Department of Transportation, the Governor's office, the Office of Civil Preparedness, the Department of Environmental Protection, the cities of Danbury and New Britain, the town of Windsor, six school systems, Northeast Utilities and several major corporations, among them Union Carbide, I.B.M. and General Electric.

The main radio voice of the center is Dr. Goldstein, who, no matter how dreary the weather outlook, delivers his reports in an ebullient manner that bespeaks an enthusiasm and affection for his calling, especially when a storm is brewing. Known as ''Dr. Mel'' to his listeners, he does about three dozen separate radio forecasts a day for the 13 Connecticut stations alone, each ranging from 30 to 90 seconds. Approximately 70 more radio reports are done by members of his staff each day, ''What we do that the National Weather Service cannot is provide specific forecasts for a local area, such as Danbury, Norwalk and New Haven,'' said Dr. Goldstein. ''There are five National Weather Service stations in Connecticut, but they merely collect weather data and send it to Boston and New York, where the forecasts are issued.''

That, Dr. Goldstein pointed out, was not meant to denigrate the National Weather Service, whose reports are a primary source for the Weather Center's forecasts. ''What I'm saying is that you're far more likely to get more accurate forecasts when they're made for a specific, localized area,'' he said.

A much smaller Weather Center has been in operation since 1982 in Copernicus Hall at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. Headed by Steven Newman, the only meteorologist on the staff, the well-equipped center does not supply weather reports to clients but provides a 24-hour Weatherphone service, which offers forecasts that are updated twice daily for central Connecticut.

As is the case at Western Connecticut, the Central Connecticut program, which includes seven meteorology-related courses, offers a minor in meteorology that stresses mathematics and physics courses and calls for hands-on training in the Weather Center. At Western Connecticut, for example, meteorology students are required to take 20 credits in math and physics. In both schools, graduates who have taken the program are qualified to become meteorologists.

The Central Connecticut Weather Center focuses on the New Britain area, said Dr. Newman. ''We know the idiosyncracies of the area and that's important in doing a weather forecast,'' he said. ''One of my pet peeves is having someone doing a weather forecast for an area from hundreds of miles away.''